Convention Center

[SoonerDave]

So the Ford dealership was a long standing con job? Interesting accusation.

Hold the phone, there, Rover. I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm pointing out the amazing irony in that the site location just happens to be where I was told it would be years before all the selection process started. I don't know anything about any politics or dealings beyond that. It could well be that it was entirely a coincidence, lucky guess, or misinterpretation of other information. Don't know. Just relaying what I was told, which is obviously hearsay.

[Rover]

Im pretty sure I saw Page & Plant in concert at the Cox Center in 1998. What's changed since? Its fully functional as a concert venue...that is until its torn down one day.

Tulsa, Wichita and Little Rock building large, new arenas is what has happened. Major concerts aren't coming to the Cox. Minor ones now go to casinos.

The point is that we can trade Barron's games for concerts at the Peake if everyone wants. National concerts will book at regional arenas that are available when they need them to be. If the Peake isn't available, so be it. And comparing it to the Staples Center for changeovers, etc., I doubt the Barrons will pay what the Clippers and Kings do, or even the concerts, to make multiple changes in a day. Is it theoretically possible for us to utilize the Peake like LA does....yes. Is it financially the same.....not even close.

[Just the facts]

If the Barons can't afford to take up the Thunder court (the ice is always there) then take some of the proceeds from selling the Cox to off-set the cost.

[Rover]

And again I question, is this about the CC HOTEL? It seems impossible to keep this thread on the subject.

[Larry OKC]

...As far as not being far off, I didn't think the city even owned all of it, yet. And then there will be a pretty serious environmental clean up, the size of which has yet to be determined. And before any of that starts, we have to get the money for it from the MAPS taxes, and I don't think collections have met the budget for the park yet. I don't see how it's going to be useable for at least 10 years unless they do it in very small stages.

MAPS 3 was projected to bring in an average of $100 million/yr or $8,333,333/month. They have been collecting the tax for 2 years and 4+ months (started April 1, 2010), and tax collections are multi-millions above the projections. If the Park had been built first as was the Mayor's stated preference, they had the entire $130 million in-hand no latter than 16 months or right at this time last year (if my fingers didn't fail me...LOL). Granted, this is if they used all the money for 1 project at a time instead of multiple projects in various stages. But you are correct, they are doing it in stages now with minimal landscaping with the completion of the Park more towards the end of the time line.

ON EDIT: my apologies to Rover and others wanting to stay on topic. I was just responding to the discussion and really didn't notice the thread topic. Again, my apologies, so you can now get back to the regularly scheduled thread topic (I hope).

[BDP]

MAPS 3 was projected to bring in an average of $100 million/yr or $8,333,333/month. They have been collecting the tax for 2 years and 4+ months (started April 1, 2010), and tax collections are multi-millions above the projections. If the Park had been built first as was the Mayor's stated preference, they had the entire $130 million in-hand no latter than 16 months or right at this time last year (if my fingers didn't fail me...LOL). Granted, this is if they used all the money for 1 project at a time instead of multiple projects in various stages. But you are correct, they are doing it in stages now with minimal landscaping with the completion of the Park more towards the end of the time line.

ON EDIT: my apologies to Rover and others wanting to stay on topic. I was just responding to the discussion and really didn't notice the thread topic. Again, my apologies, so you can now get back to the regularly scheduled thread topic (I hope).

Yeah. It's not what I would have done, but it is how it's going down. C2S park as a functioning urban destination is a ways away.

Seems like we have already been missing out on a number of high profile concerts that now go to Tulsa and Wichita because of scheduling conflicts. Guess we could afford to miss a few more. No big deal.

Why did people keep saying this? There is NOTHING about the Thunder being here that prevents the feasibility of hosting any concert that wants to come here. This is done all over the country. Look to the Staples center for the extreme example. THREE major league teams play there in a city that has no shortage of concert venues and they still have several concerts there a year, often sandwiched in between sporting events. A scheduling conflict only exists if there is only ONE available date and a basketball game is being played. If they want to have a show here, they will work around that, for sure.

In relation to Tulsa, MANY of the shows at BOK Center have already been through Oklahoma City and recently many have been making stops at both on opposite ends of the tour. And how many of those BOK shows actually took place on a night the Thunder played in OKC? Not many. The Thunder plays around 40 games a year at CEA. That leaves 325 other days for shows. That's not much of a conflict, if any. Concert tours are accustomed to working around the primary tenant of a venue and seeing as how we only have one and many cities have more than one, we're actually a very easy market to schedule.

If shows are booking BOK in place of CEA for a reason other than to avoid market saturation, arena management probably has more to do with it than anything. You see, SMG manages the two major arenas in Oklahoma. One of those arenas has a major tenant. The other one NEEDS touring events to generate revenue and, even with that, they're still 40 nights in the hole out the gate against their arena in OKC. So, which one would you try and influence tours to book? If you had competing management, I bet you would see a difference in scheduling.

In any event, just having just 40 nights a year pre-booked should not cause any major scheduling conflicts or operational hurdles to booking any major one-night event, such as a concert, in Oklahoma City. If a tour chooses to book BOK instead of CEA, more often than not it's going to be the result of a business and/or market decision and not one that was forced due to scheduling.

[dankrutka]

Why did people keep saying this? There is NOTHING about the Thunder being here that prevents the feasibility of hosting any concert that wants to come here.

They were overstating your point, and now you're overstating yours. There are times when OKC could miss out on a concert because the Thunder have booked dates, but it probably does not happen very often, and the positive impact of the Thunder using the arena on those dates makes it worth the few concerts that might be missed.

[BDP]

They were overstating your point, and now you're overstating yours. There are times when OKC could miss out on a concert because the Thunder have booked dates, but it probably does not happen very often, and the positive impact of the Thunder using the arena on those dates makes it worth the few concerts that might be missed.

Not really. They can turn around the arena in one day easily. A tour can shift a date one day if they really want to play in the market. Happens all the time. If they only have one date for the market, then it's just not a priority and that's more of a reflection of the market than it is a result of the NBA being here. The uncertainty of the playoffs could have an impact, but often the NBA is accommodating and that should not deter management from booking some dates during that time. I'm just saying if you follow the bookings of major arenas across the country, having major league sports tenants is not a hindrance to attracting. major tours, that is if the market is strong enough.

[Just the facts]

The arena can be changed over in about 2 hours. Some place just set a record a few weeks ago making the switch in something like 46 minutes. They can easily do a Thunder game on Saturday afternoon and do a major concert that night.

From the AA center page:

http://www.americanairlinescenter.co...hangeovers.php

Teamwork

It takes a team of 40 - 60 people just under two hours to convert the arena floor from a basketball court into an ice hockey rink or vice versa. The team is broken into five groups and each group is given four to five specific tasks that they work on during the conversion. Nicknamed the "Skittles Crew," each group is assigned a color coded shirt.

It is even faster if the change involves a concert and not two pro sports teams

American Airlines Center is a versatile facility, shifting from basketball to hockey to concerts in minutes, not hours, if need be. They are called changeovers, and they happen a few times every year. When two very different events are scheduled in the AACenter on the same day.

[RodH]

Please remember that Chesapeake Energy Arena has been under renovation since BOK opened. I believe that has had as much, if not more influence on what concerts could be scheduled. I expect that more concerts will be scheduled now that the construction is wrapping up.

[Bellaboo]

It could be that SMG does not maintain that much of a staff to make the quick change. I know that when the T-shirts are put out during the Thunder playoff games, that volunteers are asked to do the job, and if IIRC, it takes 70 or 80 people 4 hours to put the shirts out. Not saying they couldn't add temp staff for these type of multiple events during a day, but you never know.

[Rover]

Love all the hotel talk. Great hotel thread. Very to the point.

[Rover]

Site STILL not going to be available for a CC HOTEL until the new CC is built. The new CC Hotel will likely build to coincide with the opening of the CC. That would seem to rule out the site of the Cox center as the site for new hotel. Regardless of how amazing the Staples Center is and how great the AA staff is, unless they can clear the Cox site and build a new hotel in 60 minutes, or two hours, or overnight....sorry, it doesn't seem to be the site.

[RodH]

What do you think of the idea of building the CC Hotel on the Blvd south of the arena?

[Bellaboo]

Love all the hotel talk. Great hotel thread. Very to the point.

Here's some more hotel talk. Steve, during todays chat, relayed that the hotel would be at least 20 stories tall and have several hundred rooms.

[Steve]

OK, now let's put that in perspective. That is purely based on information that is already in the public domain - it's a guess based on what the experts and consultants have told the city. I have no special info on this one.

[Just the facts]

Site STILL not going to be available for a CC HOTEL until the new CC is built. The new CC Hotel will likely build to coincide with the opening of the CC. That would seem to rule out the site of the Cox center as the site for new hotel.

My guess is they will build the convention hotel near the new convention center. That alone should rule out the Cox site.

[Teo9969]

What do you think of the idea of building the CC Hotel on the Blvd south of the arena?

That to me seems obvious, with the hotel being on Robinson/Boulevard, and depending on size the block just to the east as well, with the convention center being some combination of the blocks north of SW 7th, East of Robinson and out to Shields.

I'd really like if the convention center were some sort of L/T like shape. Lining Shields somewhere between 3rd and 7th, and extending to Robinson between 4th and 5th. And then have some dining and entertainment options on the other lots that have no convention center. It would be especially nice to have some patio oriented developments that look out toward the Park.

[BoulderSooner]

If the Barons can't afford to take up the Thunder court (the ice is always there) then take some of the proceeds from selling the Cox to off-set the cost.

i bet the cox is the future site of our new arena .. (in 2030)

[OKCisOK4me]

i bet the cox is the future site of our new arena .. (in 2030)

Id enjoy it much better if the mega block was returned to 4 city blocks.

[Just the facts]

Id enjoy it much better if the mega block was returned to 4 city blocks.

This is exactly what is going to happen. Multiple renditions of both the convention center and the downtown transit center show the COX returning to the street grid. The land is way too valuable to use it for a new arena. It will be just like the current issue with the new convention center where the land cost (in this case opportunity cost) is half the money available. OKC can fund the entire new arena by simply selling the land the Cox is on.

[NWOKCGuy]

This is exactly what is going to happen. Multiple renditions of both the convention center and the downtown transit center show the COX returning to the street grid. The land is way too valuable to use it for a new arena. It will be just like the current issue with the new convention center where the land cost (in this case opportunity cost) is half the money available. OKC can fund the entire new arena by simply selling the land the Cox is on.

Since when has the land being 'too valuable' stopped the city from proposing a convention center at a site?

[Rover]

Since when has the land being 'too valuable' stopped the city from proposing a convention center at a site?

I love all the talk on this thread about the new hotel. The focus is amazing.

[Just the facts]

Since when has the land being 'too valuable' stopped the city from proposing a convention center at a site?

Touché

However, I get the sense that the Lone Ranger style is coming to an end now that more people than ever are focused on downtown and have an outlet to voice their concerns. It is a brave new world for OKC.

[Rover]

So the land is too valuable for a hotel, and the city doesn't care. I get it.